Entrepreneur “Get It Done” Lessons for 2010 – Part 1
I love the change, fluidity and flexibility of entrepreneurship. There’s nothing quite like starting your own business to help you learn who you are and what’s important to you.
Over the past year many of you have joined me on my journey as I’ve shared the ups and downs and lessons learned. The last six months have been special because I’ve been doing a lot more coaching with visionary entrepreneurs with a special emphasis on getting things done. So I’d like to share with you some of the lessons learned from their perspective and mine.
Share your story.
When you’re an entrepreneur, it’s not your expertise (like your business degree) that people care about as much as the story of how you got to where you are today. Your truth is often your passion for wanting to help others and is rooted in something very personal to you so it’s incredibly important to share that reason why. I’ve also realized that it’s okay to share your mistakes – they are an important part of your truth so don’t be afraid of sharing them. It’s from our mistakes that we are much better teachers.
Celebrate the small things.
It’s important to celebrate each victory, each sale, every follow-up you didn’t want to do (but did it anyway) and most of all, every time you stepped out of your comfort zone. I have been following a mentor who had huge numbers attached to her programs and mine were much less. Initially, I felt I’d failed and I found myself looking at the situation very negatively. When in fact I had generated more business in that month than previous month, and had served more people. My lesson was to celebrate my own victories both big and small. Too many times we look outside ourselves to what others are doing and if we don’t live up then we feel “less” than. Who’s served by that?
Recognize and then acknowledge your gift.
As women we can often dismiss the value of that which comes easily to us. It’s almost as if we think if it’s easy then it must not be important. So many times it’s the unnoticed asset that is our biggest gift. Which is one of the reasons why I believe it’s so critical to connect with like-minded “get it done” entrepreneurs. They will point out our strengths. Don’t say, “It’s not a big deal,” – acknowledge your gift.
It’s a disservice NOT to offer your services.
I learned this from Lisa Sasevich who taught me so much about selling authentically. Selling is scary – it forces you to really step out of your comfort zone. The fact is that when you’re out there and people are learning from you and enjoying you, some are going to want more of you – be it services or products you have to offer. You can “sell” more effortlessly when you make it easy for them to see and take the next step.
Just start somewhere – action begets action.
Ideas are great – most entrepreneurs have tons of them, but implementation is the key to success. A huge revelation for many of my clients is that just doing SOMETHING, even if it turns out to be the wrong thing, is better than inaction. There is beauty in momentum. Once you start with something you’re able to improve upon it. If you take a step and it turns out to be the wrong step, then you know and can move in the other direction. On the other hand, if you never get started, you have no place to work from.
I’d love to hear the the wisdom of what you’ve learned about yourself and your business.
Tags: entrepreneur, get it done tips, Kim DeYoung, Lessons Learned, Lisa Sasevich.
